MINUTES
STEPHENSON MEMEORIAL LIBRARYTRUSTEE MEETING
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
Present: Bob Marshall, Neal Brown, Andre Wood, Mary Ann Grant, Jami Bascom, Kristin Readel, Gail Smith.
Absent: Bruce Dodge, Scott Jones.
7:10 PM – Chairman Brown called the meeting to order. He requested that Bob act as a voting member at tonight’s meeting in Bruce’s absence. Bob agreed to act as a voting member for the meeting.
7:12 PM – Review of the Minutes of the February 13, 2013 Trustee meeting and follow up on action items therein
1) The Trustees reviewed the minutes and made the following amendments:
a) On page 1, second paragraph, section 2: add a period to the end of the sentence.
On page 1, second paragraph, and section 2, subsection a: add a period to the end of the sentence. On page 1, second paragraph and subsection e: replace “te” with “The”. On page one, second paragraph and subsection f: replace “policies” with “by laws”.
b) On page two, third paragraph, line 6: replace ”all were in agreement that this path makes sense” to “ all were in agreement that the Trustees give the responsibility to the Library Director for the development and management of the budget for the Library and the annual report (see job description).” Jamie made the motion to accept the February minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by Bob. The vote was unanimous to accept the minutes as amended. ACTION: Pat will amend the minutes and have them posted on the Town Website as well as send the Secretary a copy.
2) Review of Action Items:
a) Pat posted the January minutes and the February preliminary minutes to the Town Website.
b) Jami and Bruce did not have another work session since the last Trustee meeting.
c) Kristin did not ask Aaron Patt, Town Administrator, to draft a letter to the abutter of the Library parking lot due to communication that will be taking place between the DPW Director and the abutter. She will speak to the TA about this by the next Trustee meeting.
d) Mary Ann and Jami obtained a copy of the Antrim Library annual report, and Jami will try to get a copy of the Dublin Library annual report.
7:35 PM- Treasurer’s Report:
Mary Ann reported that as of today, the balance in the Library checking account is $3,982.00 and that there was $11.50 cents of revenue from copies. She also reported that there has been a fuel delivery in the amount of $482.76 that is outstanding. The Merrill Fund annual donation is $6513.32, 45% of which is for the Building and 55% of which is for books. There is $2013.89 remaining from the 2012 Merrill Fund for books and $4876.20 remaining from 2012 in the Merrill Fund for the building. Discussion followed about what the Merrill Fund building monies can be used for, and that the Trustees can ask the Friends of the Library to revisit the percentage split in the future. Bob motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report as submitted, and the motion was seconded by Jami. The vote was unanimous to accept the Treasurer’s report as submitted.
7:58 PM - Town Meeting Strategy:
Neal reports that there was “good press” in the Peterborough Ledger-Transcript with the Town budget remaining essentially flat for this fiscal year, and he feels prepared to answer any questions that might come up at Town Meeting about the warrant article.
8:04 PM – Librarian’s Report:
1) Kristin and Gail reported that check outs are down slightly from last year .They expressed that now that there is a comprehensive catalogue of books at the Library they will focus on core collection development.
2) National Library Week is the week of April 14th. Gail and Kristin are planning a day time social meeting and hope that the Friends of the Library will host an evening social time as well. ACTION: Kristin will attend the Friends meeting and propose the evening Social event to them. A discussion followed as to how the Trustees might help the Friends become more active as a group.
3) Gail ad Kristin will participate in World Book Night in Warner, NH on April 23rd. They will obtain twenty free books to be given to residents.
4) Pictures of the Library building have been submitted to the “Sisters in Crime” website to compete for a $1000.00 prize and for a $500.00 grant to participate in a book walk.
5) Volunteers continue to assist the staff with cataloguing the DVD and classics collection.
8: 10 PM – Strategy for becoming an Emergency Center for the Town of Greenfield:
Bob reported that he will talk to John Gryval again about the status of the Library in the emergency management planning for the Town.
8:11 PM - Status of Policy writing: Jami and Bruce are planning on meeting to begin the process of working on policies. Jami will inform the Trustees of the time and date of that meeting. Jami provided the Trustees with a copy of the current by-laws and pointed out a couple of areas that may need to b e revised. ACTION: The Trustees will review the by-laws and sent their suggestions via e-mail to Jami so they will be compiled and the final draft of the by-laws will be presented for at a future Trustee meeting. Mary Ann will approach the Friends of the Library about Article VII, which addresses them.
8:18 PM - Status of the Library Sign: Tabled due to Bruce’s absence.
8:20 – Old/other business:
1) Kristin will attend the next Friends meeting to give them an idea of what the Library needs.
2) The 2013 New Hampshire Library Trustees Association conference will be held on May 20th and the registration deadline is May 6. Discussion followed about inviting a member of the Friends to attend with the Trustees. It was unanimously decided to offer a member of the Friends to attend the conference, and this will be followed up on at the next Trustee meeting. ACTION: The price of attending the NHLTA conference for a member of the Friends will be paid for by the Library.
3) Andre wanted to review the 2013 contract he has provided for the Library. It provides for 2 hours a month of maintenance on the public terminals and that amount is appropriate at this time.
4) The area Trustees meeting will be held on March 22 at noon at the Peterborough Library.
5) Jami will not be here for next month’s Trustees meeting. The by-laws state that the Trustees shall appoint the treasurer, Secretary and Chair of the Trustees for the coming year at the April meeting. ACTION: The Trustees agreed to table the decision of new officers until the May meeting due to the absences of Trustees at the April meeting.
6) Bob asked whether there is a thorough bid for the air conditioning/heating upgrade to the Library in anticipation of his conversation with the Emergency Management Director about the Library. Neal reported that there is a comprehensive bid done by Sanford last year.
7) Neal asked whether there has been a battery back up installed on the exterior light timer. Gail reported that she has not heard back from the electrician about this.
8) Neal reported that there is a service in Vermont called “Front Porch Forum”. It is a Town specific electronic clearing house and they would like to expand it to NH. Andre suggested that with the Town website and the net conductivity at the Library, a similar thing could be done with the Town website.
9:00 PM - Jami made the motion to adjourn the meeting at this time, ob seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative to adjourn,
The next meeting of the Trustees will be held on April 3, 2013 at 7PM at the Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia LaPree
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